A rhetorical stylistic device is called a paradox. The paradox is the exaggerated, absurd and seemingly contradictory formulation of a thought. This contradictory statement, however, is a deep knowledge. Paradoxes, on closer inspection, always have a higher truth. The inconsistency of the stylistic figure is shared with the oxymoron.
The term can be derived from ancient Greek (παράδοξον) and is composed of para (παρά) and doxa (δόξα). para means beside or beside, whereby doxa can be translated with opinion or view. Paradoxes are, therefore, content which have a co-opinion or reveal a deeper, double meaning when analyzed more closely. Let’s look at an example.
Life is death,
death is life.
In the above example, several stylistic devices are hidden. Thus, the lines are antithetically constructed, since two statements are combined, which are opposed to each other in terms of content, as well as a semantic chiasm, thus a cross-section or parallelism. Since the two statements are controversial, we are dealing with an oxymoron. The paradox is that this statement appears at first sight to be insane and only makes sense on closer inspection.
Actually, there is that life is death and death is life. These two statements are contradictory, because by definition nothing lives that is dead. However, the whole thing makes sense when we take the hidden, partly metaphorical meaning. Let us assume, for example, that life is only the precursor of heaven, makes the whole sense, since this is the place of life in the life of others.
Less is more.
Paradoxes can also be oxymoranes, as this example illustrates. The Oxymoron means a statement based on a contradictory choice of words (halls, peace-makers, etc.), with no deeper meaning behind them. Accordingly, the saying Less is more clearly an oxymoron, because the words are less and more excluded. But that is only half the truth.
On closer inspection, it could be noticed that something else might be meant. There are cases where the statement is true. Whoever writes a text, for example, should always focus on the essentials and not write the hot mash. In this case, therefore, less is actually more and the whole is merely a contradiction, a paradox.
It’s almost funny,
when two laps get into the hair.
This example reveals that paradoxes can have a comic effect. At first sight, the statement also contradicts itself here, because a person with a bald head can hardly be affected by the hair. The expression in the hair gets a colloquial phrase, when people get into conflict with each other. Here too, oxymoron and paradox are connected.
Differences: paradox, antithesis and oxymoron
In the course of a poem analysis students often find it difficult to clearly identify the clear difference between paradox, antithesis, and oxymoron. This is due to the fact that all the stylistic figures go into one another and also in that the differences are very fine.
Antithesis: Is the contrast between two statements. These, however, do not necessarily have to be a contradiction, but merely contradict one another. Furthermore, the antithesis can be used to translate words, word sequences and also entire sentences.
Oxymoron: In contrast to the antithesis, only single words are connected in contradiction. Accordingly, antitherses and oxymoranes can be identical. However, the oxymoron means not only the juxtaposition of two contradictions, but the logical combination of both, for example in “I old youth!”. A special form is the Contradictio in adiecto.
Paradox: Here the contradiction of the statement consists only at first sight. On closer examination, it is noticeable that the paradox includes a higher or further truth, which in itself does not have to contradict itself, but reveals a wider sense.
Forms of the paradox
In the literature the stylist means the illusion. However, there are also paradoxes in philosophy, religion and other sciences. The following is an overview of the species, which, however, are related to the style figure due to the contradiction.
logical paradoxes: means the contradiction as a result of the negation of self-reference. As an example, the statement This sentence is incorrect. This statement is true if it is false and false if it is true. The statement is therefore denied when applied to itself.